Preferred 9mm headstamp for reloading?

Does anybody have a particular 9mm headstamp that they prefer for reloading, or one that you absolutely will not use...and in either case, why?

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SSN Vet

January 25, 2013, 07:14 PM

Win is my favorite.... because they're very good and make up 70% of what I find in the brass buckets at the range.

Fed., RP and PMC are also very good in 9x19

bds

January 25, 2013, 07:20 PM

S&B and RWS 9mm cases have very tight primer pockets.

I can deprime S&B cases without much issue but it takes more effort to seat the primer, even to flush with once-fired cases (I prefer to seat my primers slightly below flush or .004" below). Not only that, some S&B 9mm cases are brass plated steel and they will stick to a magnet. :eek:

With RWS cases, primer tightness is even worse. It's very hard to deprime and primers won't always come out. I have used pliers to pull off partially deprimed primers but I think the seating of primers is even worse than S&B (I have mushroomed primers while trying to seat them).

I guess the Europeans didn't want the primer pockets to blow with the higher pressure NATO rounds ... I now cull RWS cases and check S&B cases with a magnet. I still do like brass S&B cases.

I have had good experience with Winchester, WCC, Starline, Speer/CCI/Blazer/.FC. cases. Remington (RP/R-P) and Federal (FC) have been OK. PMC have been good for me but a few years back, I came across a batch of once-fired 45ACP cases with softer brass that bulged when I seated the bullets (I ended up tossing the entire lot of several hundred cases after much frustration). I haven't had any issues with PMC 9mm cases or other caliber PMC brass since.

Chinese "LY" 9x19 cases seem to develop loose primer pockets more than any other head stamp I have used.

A-MERC head stamp cases get culled regardless of the caliber.

mboe794

January 25, 2013, 07:34 PM

In my experence WIN and RP work the best. Plus they're easy to come by. CBC, Fiocchi and some others work well too but I dont come across nearly as many of those. FC and Blazer seem to offer less neck tension, but it's not a problem. I throw a lead bullet in those and it works well as the other brands do for jacketed bullets.

PMC is weird. Tension is snug at first, but after a few loading seems to loosen up. It then goes into the lead load stash.

The only brand that I've ever had primer pocket troubles with is S&B. Most of the time they load up fine but every now and again a primer will squish.

Opinions will very quite a bit person to person.

Sam1911

January 25, 2013, 07:40 PM

9mm...whatever I pick up off the range floor or ground. I can't say I've ever sorted 9mm for anything but steel or aluminum cases, or the occasional crimped primer.

So the Win NT stuff, for example, I toss in a bucket for "someday" when I feel like reaming out crimps. Like CCR said, "Someday never comes...!"

rcmodel

January 25, 2013, 07:47 PM

-*- Starline is as good as it gets.

Unfortunately, you have to buy it new from Starline usually.

rc

springer99

January 25, 2013, 07:55 PM

WW and Federal get my vote for best brass to reload in 9mm and 45ACP. Others are OK, but I must state that I usually relegate R-P to the scrap bin immediately if I pick it up at all. Especially true with 45ACP.

Sam1911

January 25, 2013, 08:00 PM

...but I must state that I usually relegate R-P to the scrap bin immediately if I pick it up at all.Hey, I'll pay postage for it! I've never had a gun that could tell the difference!

264

January 25, 2013, 08:00 PM

Thanks guys, for all the replys. I have 1k pieces of win saved back, just because they're common, just as SSN vet stated. Nice to know they're good to go. Seems I occasionally get a win stamp with a font that looks slightly different. Anyone else see that? Guess it doesn't make a difference???

Sam1911

January 25, 2013, 08:03 PM

I've found Win and Rem. headstamps in a variety of different fonts and sizes. Again, this is for autoloading handguns...the brass really makes no difference at all so long as the primer size is right. Grab whatever you find and shoot it until it splits or you lose it.

bds

January 25, 2013, 08:04 PM

The different "WIN" font/lettering maybe from newer vs older cases. +1 to Sam1911, as long as the primer pockets are not loose, I would keep using them.

The above are the best. I also use PMC 9mm & 44spl. And PPU 9mm & 45acp.
# 1 2 & 3 9mm have had several thousand rounds put through them and cleaned and polished to new.

MR835 IS GONE

Sidewinder72

January 25, 2013, 10:03 PM

I use most all brass, with Win, fed, and rp being my favorite. I will not reload any GFI, A-Merc and a few others.

GLOOB

January 26, 2013, 01:24 AM

A-merc is the only case I have tossed.

I notice that a lot of my FC 9mm primer pockets are a little too deep. I notice that R-P and Speer are a little thinner at the mouth.

I have a bunch of DAG stamped 9mm. The flashholes are too small and have to be reamed. And the brass starts to get thick way higher than normal, so they're only good for 115-124 gr jacketed bullets, seated fairly shallow.

I have a bunch of HPR, which is some outfit in AZ. I think they get their cases from Starline. Good stuff. Of the common headstamps, I probably like CBC, WIN, R-P about equally. FC slightly less so. S&B, well that's already been covered. But I don't sort my 9mm cases, anyhow. Other than the DAG stamps, which I am keeping aside for emergency use, due to the bullet seating issue.

I've never bothered to sort 9mm by headstamp. The only pistol brass I've ever sorted is 45acp and it's only to separate by primer size. With gallons of brass on hand I won't be wasting my time sorting them for a pistol.

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45lcshooter

January 26, 2013, 09:33 AM

Don't have a favorite because all but Blazer load well for me.

The progressive press doesn't like Blazer brass for some reason, when seating bullets it crushes the side of the case in, happens to a few out of a 100. I think its just the side walls are not as thick as the other other, but I don't have a whole lot of it so I have it stored, in case some day I'll use it.

bds

January 26, 2013, 09:55 AM

The progressive press doesn't like Blazer brass for some reason, when seating bullets it crushes the side of the case in
I think all the ATK products like Speer, CCI, Blazer, Federal, .FC. cases are made from the same plant/material while regular FC cases are/were made from different plant/material. I could be wrong.

For me, Speer/CCI/Blazer/Federal/.FC. cases have been good to reload and seem to be better than older FC cases.

I also reload on a progressive and have not experienced any issues with Speer/CCI/Blazer/Federal/.FC./FC brass. I did have issues with neck tension in some FC cases.

marksg

January 26, 2013, 12:47 PM

-*- Starline is as good as it gets.

^^ this

I reload different headstamps, but starline is the only one i put in its own special bucket. I usually only shoot it when the range is not busy so i don't have to separate allot of other brass out.

evan price

January 26, 2013, 03:24 PM

I don't sort 9mm. I load it all as long as it's brass, and not crimped primer pocket.

Legion489

January 26, 2013, 03:36 PM

9mm brass is 9mm brass in my book. Same with .45 ACP. A lot of people seem to hate A-merc, so to try it out I bought a few boxes of .45 ACP. Every round went bang, hit the target and I reloaded them a few times to see if there was a problem there. I didn't see any problems, but all I hear is "I hate A-merc!" on nearly every thread. OK, if you don't like a product, don't use it, that means there is one less thing to worry about and I am all in favor of that!

savanahsdad

January 26, 2013, 04:04 PM

I have found a lot of PMC brass with the flash holes off center, breaking off my decap pin :cuss: so I stay away from them and keep a good supply of decap pins on hand, other than that I've never found a 9mm round that wouldn't feed or fire after I reloaded one ,

travisd

January 26, 2013, 05:43 PM

Just sized and started priming about 200 rounds today. Haven't gotten any powder or bullets yet so that's as far as I got. Mostly ppu and win brass. Had a few federals, remingtons and some pmc I picked up at the range. After having the primers fall out of 2 or 3 federal cases I started tossing them as I came across them. Gave the ones I already primed a good tap to check them and after I shoot them ill be tossing them.

bds

January 26, 2013, 06:36 PM

after I shoot them ill be tossing them
I reuse my straight walled pistol brass until they split or develop loose primer pockets.

And don't toss junk brass. Recycle them as scrap metal - around $1+/pound

I collect all the unusable/damaged brass cases along with spent primers (they are brass too) in a 5 gallon bucket and take to metal recycler.

hueyville

January 26, 2013, 07:46 PM

+1 for whatever I pick up. Uniform it first trip through the system then shoot/load/shoot/load/shoot till it finally dies a natural death. That takes a long, long time.

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